Housing plan unveiled

The plan calls for intensive case management, deep subsidies to alleviate financial hardship, clinical intervention for the mentally ill and rapidly “re-housing” homeless people.

It would be a massive collaboration among all the agencies and nonprofits currently dealing with the homeless, bringing together organizations like Soldier On, which works with homeless veterans, and the Berkshire Community Action Council, which runs the Barton’s Crossing shelter in Pittsfield.

Implementation will involve countywide .

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Wealth Watch – A wealth of advice to help rich keep hold of their cash

For most wealthy individuals, their financial requirements stretch well beyond an investment planning service. Most wealth managers now offer their clients a range of services, aiming to realistically fulfil all of a client’s needs, including their .

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Savings Strategies

(Mr. Speier is consulting with his financial planner to figure out which option is best, but he’s leaning toward the latter.)

On top of the pension, Mr. Speier has $160,000 in mutual funds held in a 403(b) plan, the equivalent of a 401(k) offered to employees of nonprofits. He’s been funding the 403(b) with 6% of his salary, matched at 25% by his employer, since the clinic started offering the plan in the early 1980s. Ms. Speier doesn’t have a pension, but she has been socking between 6% and 10% of her salary into a 401(k) for many years. The account now has over $200,000 in it. The couple also has money in other mutual funds and a regular savings account, bringing their total retirement savings to about $500,000. They don’t carry credit-card debt and they own their home outright.

“A half a million doesn’t feel like much these days, but we will also have my pension and Social Security, and we don’t have a mortgage, so I guess we’re doing pretty well,” says Mr.

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How My Wife and I Got on the Same Financial Page

When my wife and I approached our financial meltdown, our financial planning and spending was in pure chaos. We both spent according to our whims and we tackled bills and such without any real pattern or consistency. Neither of us had any real idea what the other was doing financially, and we certainly didn’t have any big dreams that we shared beyond the nebulous “let’s build a house in the country” idea that we’d floated in a very vague sense for a long time but never bothered to make any more concrete.

Since then (about two years), we went from living in a crackerbox apartment to owning our own home. We’ve eliminated somewhere around $30,000 in debt (and rising fast). Even more importantly, we worked together to find options that made us both happier in terms of our careers and home lives and we settled in on some big goals.

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Representative late in revealing 2 loans for homes

“I believed that the loan in question was an investment transaction because the proceeds were used to pay for improvements and expenses of my investment property in San Pedro, which is outside the Long Beach jurisdiction and therefore exempt from reporting.

“However, in an effort to provide full disclosure and comply with all State and Federal regulations, attached you will find the amended reports.”

In a document supporting one of those reports is a $20,000 loan made July 31, 2000, by a Charles Westlund, whose occupation is listed as “retired.”

“It was a loan that I put together,” said “Jerry” Westlund, who owns the Fantasy Castle strip club in Signal Hill and 13 others in seven states. “I’ve done other loans like that and used my family’s trust money in doing that.”

The term “retired,” however, would imply the loan was made by Westlund’s father, who has the same name.

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Even new firms need employee policies

I do appreciate that you are cautious about taking on financial obligations for a company that has not yet developed its first products or secured its first customer. Good employment agreements usually provide obligation relief for insolvent businesses.

The more likely scenario, however, is as you describe. You hire someone who does not meet job requirements. To minimize this risk, entrepreneurs should spend more time talking through the nitty-gritty specifics of a job rather than spending all their interview time selling prospective hires on the overall potential of the startup company.

Your candidate’s expectations matter, too. Conflicts tend to emerge as job requirements change with new business priorities, or first hires assume that they are destined for executive titles that are outside their scope of experience.

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Private health plans targeted in Medicare bill

Charles Grassley, the finance panel’s top Republican, released a rival plan on Wednesday. His plan also contains cuts to private plans, though they are less heavy.

Lawmakers face a ticking clock to pass a legislative fix by June 30, or doctors who treat Medicare patients will face a nearly 11 percent pay cut — seen as a highly unlikely outcome in an election year.

Senate Democrats, with some Republicans, want to preserve doctors’ payments with money saved from cutting private Medicare plans, known as Medicare Advantage. A recent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission report said private plans are paid 13 percent to 17 percent more than standard Medicare.

“Every Medicare beneficiary in the country … will pay $2 extra per month to subsidize these extra payment rates,” Baucus said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. Continued…

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Lehman Brothers replaces finance and operating chiefs as investor

Lehman Brothers demoted Erin Callan, its finance director, yesterday only six months into the job, and replaced Joseph Gregory, its chief operating officer.

Analysts said that the moves were an attempt by the struggling Wall Street brokerage to appease investors after the announcement on Monday of a much larger than expected loss for the second quarter.

Ms Callan will be replaced by Ian Lowitt, Lehman’s co-chief accounting officer, and Herbert McDade, the group’s head of equities, will succeed Mr Gregory. Ms Callan will move to an unspecified senior role in Lehman’s investment banking division, while Mr Gregory will remain with the group in a role that has yet to be determined.

Richard Fuld, the chairman and chief executive, said: “This has been one of the most difficult decisions either of us has had to make.

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Preparing a Home for Golden Years

Whether you’re moving, remodeling or staying put, planning a retirement home is an opportunity to create a personal environment that takes into account your future accessibility, safety and financial needs.

And, experts say, there is no reason to forget style.

Accessibility concerns – whether because of aging or physical limitations – are part of Valarie Costanzo’s practice as a real estate agent for Prudential Fox & Roach in Rittenhouse Square and Haddonfield.

Costanzo, 57, began concentrating on the accessibility niche after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago. She began helping MS Society clients in search of affordable handicapped-modified housing.

Searching listings for homes with ramps, enlarged doors, and bathrooms with walk-in tubs or roll-in showers, Costanzo realized: “A lot of this stuff also applies to baby boomers with bad knees, bad backs, etc.

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Women better at avoiding investment fraud: study

Recent research reveals that although women encounter fraudulent investments less often than men do, and of those approached with an investment fraud, fewer women than men fall victim to investment schemes.

Extensive research conducted by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) in 2006 and 2007 found there are clear differences in investment attitudes and behaviour between men and women. The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) took a further look at this research and discovered that when it comes to fraud, certain attitudes toward investing put women at less risk than their male counterparts.

�In general, women investors are more risk-averse,� says Patricia Bowles, BCSC director, communications and education. �They are less likely to believe investing is a gamble, they put more trust in investment professionals, and they are less likely to believe in bending the rules to get ahead in life.

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